March 29, 2007

Civics lesson comes true in budget

Legislators provide a public face for the leadership in their district, explaining to the district why what the leadership has decided to do must be right for the district. Legislators also look for projects that the leadership can approve to demonstrate how valuable the leadership is to the district.

But the governor shared almost no details* about what deals had been struck, explaining that it would be improper to do so until Mr. Silver and Mr. Bruno had had a chance to explain the deals to their respective flocks, who would then be able to explain it to the rest of us during public conference committees.

Because otherwise, you see, it would look as though the whole thing had been negotiated behind closed doors and then handed down to the lawmakers as a fait accomplit.